persistence

Um, Hey.

I’ve been off of tumblr for a little bit to focus on school work and the LSATs. Didn’t really realize that my follower count would double while I was away. So for those of you who see this, hello!

I wanted to take a moment away from studying to make a quick post about my goals for the new year. Because the more I put them out there, the better right?

low-buy 2020

I could make an entire post about rules that I’ve made for my low-buy year, but I’d much rather talk about my motivations for it. As most of you probably don’t know, I’m currently doing my undergrad at a university in Tokyo but I have plans to move back to the United States after graduation. International moves are stressful and expensive, so to make things go a little smoother I’d like to avoid accumulating things that I don’t need. I hope to make more meaningful purchases and to live a more sustainable life by consuming less. 

law school applications

The dreaded year is here. While I do have a relatively well structured timeline for my application process, I am not going to hold myself to specific numbers. The reason is that I don’t want my entire year to feel like a failure if I don’t score high enough on the LSATs. My year will be about discipline and accountability—not about beating myself up for missing X number of questions of whatever section of the test. 

listen to 100 new albums

This one is just for fun. As much as I love movies and tv and music, I’m the kind of person who will re-watch and re-listen rather than exploring new releases. My goal for 2020 is to listen to 100 albums which are new to me. Who knows, maybe I’ll even write reviews. Please leave me suggestions for music if you are so inclined. 

/HC

We had another meeting for HC, but what we’re beginning to realize is that getting real engagement is really difficult, no matter the amount of general interest we seem to receive. The good thing is that we got to have a really productive brainstorming session about how we could promote our organization to a larger audience. 

/class work

Did some reading on literary theory. We’re learning about structuralism and about narratology specifically. The cool thing about learning literary theory is that it gives me a lot of really great ideas for writing prompts that will force me out of my comfort zone. I don’t write a lot of fiction, but learning all of these ways to write compelling stories is making me want to give it a shot.

/lsat prep

I got to meet a school alumnus who went to a US law school and his biggest piece of advice to me was that the LSATs are effectively the only part of my application that should matter to me right now, especially since I’m an international student and my GPA will only get me so far no matter how high it is. Now I’ve got a fire under my ass about this exam and how much I should be pouring over test prep materials every moment of every day, but I know that’ll drive me insane. Rather than diving in too deep right now, I’m trying to structure a study schedule that will work with the rest of my life s well. 

/school work

My reading load for this weekend isn’t too heavy. I read Angela Carter’s The Tiger’s Bride for my gender in literature class. We’re reading and comparing it to more traditional versions of the Beauty and the Beast story by Beaumont and Villeneuve. Carter’s writing is filled to the brim with detail and symbolism, it’s wild. It’s especially cool that we’re reading it in a class that’s taught by a professor who’s research is primarily on aspects of gender in Carter’s writing. 

In my literary theory class we’re reading Donkey Skin, a French story that has remarkably similar tropes to other fairytales. I don’t know a lot about literary theory, so it’s been really exciting to learn about different theoretical lenses and applying them to the works that we read. We’re reading Donkey Skin through Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale. 

/lsat prep

I spent about two hours working on lsat prep. Most of my time was spent working on question sets and blind reviewing. LR is starting to get a little easier now that I’m making it into a habit. I also spent time reviewing informal logic and conditional statements. 

/not productivity

12.14.19 | keep your goals where you can see them! I’m getting back into bullet journalling and I’m trying to find a new layout that works for my needs. 

/class work

Three more poems down. I forget that reading poetry is something that comes with practice. Literary analysis doesn’t always come easy to me, and there are lots of times where I get down on myself because of it. I know that if I read more this probably wouldn’t be an issue, but I’ve been too tired at the end of the day to be reading for pleasure. I have started reading Decline and Fall on the recommendation of my favorite professor though! 

Read the case summary for Dred Scott v. Sandford for my constitutional law class. It’s cool getting to re-learn all of these famous cases that we basically glossed over in high school history like “yeah sure this is important too, but WAR!”

/cutting class with a professor?

Exultation is the going Of an inland soul to sea -

/class work

Analyzed and recited three Dickinson poems. I’m trying to be prepared in case I get called on in class to recite. It’s strange that my poetry class has cold calls and my law class doesn’t. 

Read a summary on McCulloch v. Maryland for con law. Didn’t quite have time to take separate notes on the case, but I made sure to annotate the important bits. 

We get to watch Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast tomorrow in gender and lit, which is going to be really cool. Honestly this class has mostly been fun and games and I shouldn’t have any problems with it so long as I keep up with the readings. 

/work

My translation job has been kind of frustrating lately because I’ve been locked out of one of the platforms that I need to be able to access to get any work done. Most of my shift was just me sending messages to the IT department to try and get someone to help me. I know this would have been resolved in minutes if I worked in the office, but I enjoy the comfort of working from home way too much.

/lsat prep

/JAZZ

I spent the weekend in a different prefecture for a jazz concert. There were bands from a handful of schools performing there and I got to be a part of it. The concert hall that we were performing in seated 1500 and the event was completely sold out. I only sang for one song, but it’s still crazy that I got to sing for an audience that big and that I didn’t mess up. Polkadots and Moonbeams will be in my heart forever.

/lsat prep

I’m not proud of the fact that I’ve gotten inconsistent with my LSAT prep. Diligence is key! I know this! I’m trying to work it back into my everyday routine. Today I started by reviewing my missed questions book and reworking them with detailed notes. I can’t just be getting questions right or wrong, I need to know why I got the score I did so that I can improve further. 

/class work

Got through my short reading for my conlaw class. Since it’s an introductory course, we aren’t reading actual case books. I’m trying my best to make a proper outline and case briefs as we go so that I won’t be overwhelmed at the end of the term. I don’t know if I’m doing them right though since I have no idea how to actually write a good case brief.

/school

The new term has started and I’m pretty excited about all of my classes! I’m a little bit nervous about managing my time, but I’ll make it work. I’m taking three literature courses and one class one American con law.

The first reading assignment of this term for my gender in literature course is Beauty and the Beast by Beaumont.

/misc.

Worked on my translation gig today. I’m not the best with tech which is frustrating sometimes because I work from home. I was locked out of an account and had to spend a chunk of my work hours trying to get back in.

I’m back in Tokyo after my weeklong trip to Berlin which was an absolute dream. I’m going to make a write up of some of my favorite museums/things to do.

Ended last term with all As :’) trying to bump up my gpa bit by bit before my law school apps begin

The new term starts tomorrow and I’m going to be taking mostly literature courses! I’m also taking my first ever law class, which is very exciting.

/lsat prep

Today was a lessons day. I decided to take it easy since the weather had me down and I’m still readjusting my sleep schedule. I’m trying to get better about guessing what the answer might be before reading the actual answer choices. It’s surprising how much better I’ve gotten at recognizing argument structures and assumptions. We’re just gonna keep on chugging along.

/HC

I worked on some Her Campus stuff. Again, I didn’t do as much as I’d hoped but that’s because writing scares me! Even if it’s just a sample piece about a fun piece of media that I consumed recently, it’s scary to have someone read and evaluate your work. I wish I grew up writing more, but better late than never I guess. 

/self care